I am a regular user of this site, the information found there adds some flavour to the rather dry facts in my family tree. I have found birth and death notices, sickly sweet in memoriums, saucy divorce proceedings and articles that give places and times to ancestors.

As Geniaus, a registered user of Trove, I can contribute to this wonderful resource. The newspapers are scanned by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that does not produce particularly accurate records. As the original newpapers do not have particularly sharp print the OCR transcriptions sometimes read as gobbledygook. Many words are therefore not indexed correctly and this results in fewer hits for searchers.

As someone with British Roots I particularly enjoy Scottish Genealogy News and Events by Chris Paton. With a bias towards Scotland and the UK but with a broader coverage this blog provides valuable news and information.

The list of top blogs is otherwise US centric. There may be others on the list that emanate from countries other than the US but I cannot readily identify them. Obviously it would be difficult, because of our small population base and short history, for an Australian blog that caters to a smaller interest base to make this list.

I wonder why there appear to be no other blogs from Europe and the UK (the lands of forefathers) on this list. Do people in these regions not read Family Tree Magazine's blog? Is genealogy blogging not popular in these regions?

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

As someone with convict ancestors and their descendants who lived in this region I have found the various family history resources that include Church and Cemetery Registers on this site most helpful.

Just today on the AUS-NSW-HILLS-HAWKESBURY-HUNTER-VALLEY- Roostweb list Michelle Nichols announced" We have recently transcribed a list of nearly 400 electors in the Electoral District of the Hawkesbury. The men nominated Richard William Piddington (1815-1887) to represent them in Parliament."

"James the Clock", as we affectionately know him, is James Gowans my husband's 3rd great-grandfather.

Born in 1806 in North Berwick James grew up to be a clockmaker in East Linton(1837-1850) and Galashiels, Scotland. Since we learnt of James' trade we have been anxious to find a clock made by him. Having an object crafted by James or his son James b. 1836 , my husband's 2nd great-grandfather, would add an extra dimension to our family history. James the clock's first son, John Gowans b 1832 who emigrated to the United States was also a watchmaker .

We started searching the internet for a Gowans clock around 2002 and discovered one on a British clocks website. We willingly paid the 99p subscription to view the site and download the photos of our first "Gowans" clock find. An email to the site did not elicit an answer so we were unable to find contact details for the owner. The clock's description states " There are four handpainted 'castles' one in each corner of the dial. It has Roman numerals. In the arch it has a picture of a farm-girl carrying two pails on a shoulder yoke with a cottage in the background." The photographs are by Mike Fuss.

We would have loved to see this clock "in the flesh" on a visit to the UK but had to content ourselves with photos. Just today I paid another 99p and went back to this website to check on James' entry that had been updated in 2009, I found an inaccurate and unsourced biographical entry. I was most disappointed and sent an email off to the site.

Not long before setting out on an excursion to the UK in early 2006 a Gowans ancestor contacted us through the Genes Reunited site. After a flurry of emails in which we discovered that he had inherited a Gowans clock from an elderly aunt we made arrangements to visit him to share family history and documents and have a viewing of the clock and James the Clock's family bible.

We had a wonderful visit with my husband's 3rd cousin (1 time removed) in his charming cottage in the English countryside. We have established a friendship with him and have subsequently stayed with him on another visit. As well as the clock and bible this cousin had a photo of an elderly James the Clock (above) as well as letters and documents from later generations. Oh, to have spinster aunts who live into their nineties and are bowerbirds to boot.

We have continued to scour the internet and have made contact with clock dealers on three continents in the hope of sourcing a Gowans clock. We regularly scour auction sites in the UK. Our English cousin has been on the lookout for us and helpfully placed an advertisement in an English clock magazine. We have yet to find a clock for sale.

Early this week I did another series of searches for Gowans clocks and got a new hit. This Gowans clock is in Australia at Museum Victoria; it is only 1,000 miles away. We immediately sent off an email to the Museum outlining our relationship to the clock's maker and asking if it would be possible to view it.

I was so excited to get a response from the Museum this morning thanking me for the biographical information supplied and indicating that we may be able to visit the clock at a time to be arranged. When I have photos of this new clock I will post them on my family history website and this blog. This news will make my husband's day.

Wow! This is a challenge but I'm going to take a trip down memory lane, trawl my archives and see if I can find any gems.

Best Picture - Best old family photo that appeared on your blog in 2009. Tell us which you liked best and why.

For the Annual Swimsuit Edition of the 74th Carnival of Genealogy I posted a photo of a little girl on the beach in Ettalong, NSW. I love this photo as it brings back memories of wonderful holidays with an extended family that were especially relished by a sometimes lonely only child.

Best Screen Play - Which family story that you shared in 2009 would make the best movie? Who would you cast as your family members?

Tina, Anne, Jackie, Gabrielle and myself were in each of those three photos. The life stories of these five women would make an excellent mini-series or docudrama. Between us we have been married, widowed or remained single, had no children or large families. Three were teachers as that was one of the few professions easily accessible to women in the late sixties. We have maintained the faith or turned our backs on the Church, we have lived in the city and the outback. We have been mature students changing careers in mid-life or have stayed in the one job for the duration of our working lives.

With the help of lighting, makeup and filters the girls have what it takes to play themselves in this series.

Best Documentary - Which was the best informational article you wrote about a place, thing, or event involving your family's history in 2009?

When the Queen came to town gives a potted history of Elizabeth II's visits to Sydney interlaced with comments about my family's involvements in these visits.

Best Biography - Which was the best biographical article you wrote in 2009?

The best biography that appeared on my blog was Last July's post "Frank Duncan - an ordinary bloke" about my grandfather, Frank Duncan. I did not meet Frank as he died before I was born but from stories recounted by my mother and aunts, who adored their father, I imagine that he was was a real Aussie larrikin.

Best Comedy - Which was the best funny story, poem, joke, photo, or video that you shared on your blog in 2009?

A popular pasttime in Australia is the derision of public figures especially politicians in our nation's capital, Canberra. Although it did not elicit comments from any readers my post Christmas news from our nation's capital really tickled my funnybone.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

CLARENCE Valley residents and descendants of local pioneering families have less than two weeks left to nominate their ancestors for a place among those to be officially acknowledged in Grafton’s Sesquicentennial Pioneer Garden.

Monday, February 8, 2010

I have copied the following notification from the Hornsby Library website. From time to time the library hosts some interesting talks but, unless I go to the website to see what is on the horizon, I miss out on hearing about the events they have planned.

Jenny Horsfield -The women of the Edgeworth David Family

Hornsby Library will be hosting a talk on the women of the Edgeworth David Family.

From educating a Fijian princess to knitting hundreds of woollen socks for servicemen during World War II, from providing medical assistance to Tuvalu islanders to offering Miles Franklin advice on her shortcomings as a writer, Lady Cara David, wife of Sir Edgeworth David, was arguably one of Hornsby Shire’s most influential women.

In 1907 David observed, "Whatever success I may have achieved in life, is die chiefly to my wife".

The talk will also focus upon Cara's children Margaret and Mary. Margaret was a community worker and politician and Mary an author.

Perusing today, February 1, I see that Emily Jane Pusell, my great-great aunt, was married in 1885 in Binda, NSW to Thomas Parsons. I know nothing of the Parsons branch other than having recollections of my grandmother talking about her cousin Siddy Parsons.As today's task I am going to spend an hour or two seeing if I can dig up any further information on Emily and her descendants.

The realisation that I haven't posted any snippets for five days has just hit me. The greater percentage of posts on my blog are taken from news services and blogs that I read. If there is anything that I think may be of interest to genealogists in Australia I post it; sometimes with a short comment and sometimes with just a link.

These items do not come in a steady stream so somtimes there is a peak and sometimes a trough. It's trough time now, in the thousand odd bits I've read in the past few days there has been nothing that I am inclined to share.

I am still on the lookout and when a peak looms I will share the information/news I find.